*** a Six Hour, One Act Party ***

After what seemed like endless days of rain, 27 July 2007 dawned full of promise for our planned Jay Peak Skyhaus rooftop antenna party. We had rescheduled the event at least four times, but patience won out, and we awoke to a nearly perfect day -- little wind and a wonderful, clear and blue sky!

Living nearest to Jay Peak, our Official Photog arrived first and snapped a great picture of the location of our impending Party. It has been a rare day when I've seen this view so clearly! It seemed like a good omen.

Because the assembled antenna would be better than 18 feet tall, we had to take it in disassembled form into the Jay Peak 10:30 AM tram. By 11:00 AM Assembly was underway on the middle roof, where there was a lot of room to walk around all the pieces and parts. Each of us had our own copy of the step-by-step assembly checklist, and each went about his assigned tasks with a wonderful feeling of "Today we are going to get it done!"

When the antenna system ( comprised of 2 feed lines, the 4 element VHF antenna, the intermediate mast with its' weatherhead, and UHF stick ) was all assembled, aligned, and weather sealed at the mast joints, we retrieved the Gin Pole from its' storage location and prepared to U-bolt it to the VHF mast socket, shown in it's orange base in the photo to the right.

Hauling lines were rigged around the Gin Pole pulley, and then, with the Gin Pole clamped to the Socket, Old Bald-On-Top learned a thing or two about raising a heavy antenna assembly up to its' vertical position. It seems our Official Photog knew more than he had been letting on, or perhaps more than Old Bald-On-Top would pay attention to in earlier times.

No photos of the Gin Pole placement nor photos of the erection of the antenna system are available because all hands were required for that heavy work.

The photo to the right shows the orange former Ch 14 TV mast base, minus that mast and antenna, but with the STARC aluminum mast socket installed. The Gin Pole had to be clamped to the top part of the socket. Then the new antenna system had to be raised to vertical, hauled up above the socket top opening, and carefully lowered until the mast stop plate rested on the socket top. Then the mast had to be rotated to place the 2 pair of elements in the desired directions, and finally the locking bolts was tightened, one of which secures the heavy grounding cable to the socket.

.. a lonely cloud and its' shadow ..		.. a later view to the North-Northwest ..

Somehow, our Official Photog sneaked off and took this picture from one of the two Tram Depots, where the tourists exit the tram. The two trams run simultaneously, one going up while the other goes down. As the two sets of cables show, each tram has its' own Depot in the northeast side of the Skyhaus.

Each of the two trams has wheels which roll on the two outside top cables of of the cable troika, while the bottom cable of the set actually pulls its' tram up or down the cable-run.

Lookout! The first step is a long one! A very long one!

Now back to the rest of the Jay Peak antenna party. If you carefully study the remaining pictures, you'll note that the cast always seemed to stop and lean on something just before the camera did its' thing.

Ladder holding is often important on Jay Peak! The wind can intensify quickly, and we have learned to be prepared to teter a bit! But during this party, the Aide-de-Camp, W1ALK, kept things well under control.

Our Potographer, KB1JME, on the left in this picture is leaning on the ladder to rest from repeated tripping of the camera button.

But, that's OK because it was debatable whether any of these fellows were working hard or hardly working.

Just above the peak of the ladder, the Mast Stop can be seen. It is a 1/2 inch thick aluminum plate, holed for the 3 inch diameter mast, and welded to the mast. It sits on the Socket Top.

Our Official Photographer, a study in blue, was doing his best to recover while he performed Ladder Stabilization. The Boss and Old BOT were inserting anti-rotation locking bolts.

Notice the lower pair of VHF folded dipoles, one on each side of the mast, visible at the top right of the photo.

Our Able Aide-de-Camp snapped this picture from the rocky bluff to the east of the Skyhaus. You can see but a portion of the forest of antennas of all types, both on the rooftop and and on the sides of the building, all the way around.

Add to these the dozens of antennas in the attic, just under the rooftop, and you can easily realize that there is ample RF present.

The Antenna Party ended like it started, with a beautiful blue sky, and with a bit of satisfaction showing in our faces. The task had been accomplished with a goodly amount of humor, and we were ready to go home. After cleaning up our debris on the rooftop, Old Baldy shook hands with Bill, Pete, and David, and announced that this was his last trip to the Jay Peak Skyhaus rooftop. It's time for younger troops to shoulder the load.